Every February, Americans unite to pay homage to inspirational African-Americans, some famous some not so famous.
For those of us, the sports fanatics, the ones who slumber in front of the TV to watch any game on or the latest edition of SportsCenter – we look at Black History Month through the eyes of the athletes we root for day in and day out.
The long list of black athletes remembered each February usually includes Jessie Owens, Arthur Ashe, Wilt Chamberlin and Joe Louis. But one name is mentioned more: Jackie Robinson.
Robinson broke the color barrier in professional baseball when he signed and then played with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Robinson dreamed of playing professional ball. The man who signed Robinson, Branch Rickey, also fulfilled a dream. Rickey understood that professional baseball should include the best players no matter what their skin color happened to be.
Baseball during the ’40s, the time of Robinson, was as American as apple pie-the sport that brought father and son together, if for only nine innings. It was also the sport that publicly displayed the harsh belief that not all people needed to be treated equally. Robinson helped change this, but so did Larry Doby.
While Robinson was facing the National League and the prejudice that existed there, Doby was playing in the Negro leagues.
He stayed there until the ever-scheming Bill Veeck, owner of the Cleveland Indians, decided to integrate the American League. Veeck was known around the league for his wild antics, including once sending a midget up to bat for the St. Louis Browns.
Whether Veeck wanted to change the world like Rickey, or just make a buck is unknown, but he ended up doing something good and historic.
Always the showman, Veeck signed Doby to a contract on July 4, 1948, signaling that all men are created equal. Doby would go on to help the Indians win their pennant and compile a star career.
He led the league in 1952 with 32 homers and 104 RBI, but he finished an unjustified 12th place in MVP voting.
Two years later he again led the league in those categories and finished in second place.
Doby might not have been the first black man in professional baseball, but he still faced the same prejudices that Robinson dealt with. Players, owners and fans thought that black men in baseball was only a phase, but with the everyday excellent play of Doby, more and more teams started to sign black players.
Doby received the same threats, the yells and discrimination that Robinson received. The AL had never seen a black player before, just as the NL hadn’t before Robinson.
By the time of Doby’s retirement in 1959, he had collected 253 home runs. He probably would have played longer if it weren’t for the stress.
He would later go on to be one of the first black managers in baseball. In 1998 the baseball world honored him when he took the stage at Cooperstown, N.Y. to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
He started out just playing ball and ended up helping to change the way we thought about people and how they should be treated.
He might not have been the first, but the name of Larry Doby should be on the mind of every sports fan and player during black history month.
